Goethe at 265

265 years ago today, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born.

This year marks the 225^th anniversary of the entry into force of the U.S. Constitution and the outbreak of the French Revolution. It also marks the bicentennial of the Norwegian Constitution. And not least the centenary of the outbreak of the war that was to be known as the war to make the world safe for democracy.

On this occasion we have a fitting quote:

Legislators and revolutionaries who promise equality and liberty at the same time are either psychopaths or mountebanks.

And another fitting one:

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.